The invention can be appreciated by considering its use with holsters, which are but one example of many uses of the present invention. Holsters worn by off-duty and plain-clothes law enforcement officers, for example, are commonly worn relatively high around the officer's waist, usually on his hip, and extremely close to the body to conceal the firearm. Such holsters are ordinarily attached to the officer's belt. In some instances, the holster has a loop through which the belt is threaded, and in other instances the holster is an integral part of the belt. It is often inconvenient and time consuming for the officer to put on his holster by first putting on a belt, especially if the belt must be threaded through belt loops on his trousers. It is also inconvenient and time consuming to remove his belt each time he wants to remove his firearm. Moreover, the conventional belt/holster combination, whether or not the holster is an integral part of the belt, requires the officer to loosen his belt and move it to a different position if he wants to switch his firearm between the conventional mode and a cross-draw mode.
During use of the conventional belt/holster combination, the holster sometimes has a substantial amount of movement relative to the belt, which can be a nuisance, and even a danger, if the officer has to draw his firearm at a moment's notice. Furthermore, it is often difficult to completely conceal a firearm carried in a holster attached to a belt.
My U.S. Pat. No. 3,915,361 discloses a holster with an adjustable mounting clip that can be quickly and easily clipped onto the waistband of a user's clothing without the need for a belt. The mounting clip is in the form of an elongated metal paddle with a non-slip coating on it. The paddle-shaped clip is spaced outwardly from the inside face of the holster. The paddle is intended to provide a stiff means of support against the user's hip. The top of the paddle has a neck that forms a mounting bracket fastened to the side of the holster by a bolt and ratchet combination. This provides means for securely holding the holster in any of a variety of positions relative to the mounting clip.
The present invention, in one embodiment, provides a holster with a mounting spring that is better than any known holster in being mounted quickly to the user's clothing and held tightly in place. In addition, the holster overcomes shortcomings of the holster with the paddle type mounting clip described above. The mounting spring allows the holster to be worn much closer to the body of the user, and the holster also can be more firmly held in a fixed position without rotating relative to the user's body, and without requiring adjustable fasteners or the like. The holster also is simpler in construction and therefore much less expensive to manufacture.